Yikes, i was about to buy a used 35 1.4 this week. What could be so much better on the new one ? Should I wait now ?

Don't make a buying decision based on a rumor. If the used one is good and has accurate autofocus, you will loove it. The price of a new one will exceed $2,000, and you could buy two used ones for the price of a new model.

alipaulphotography

Not sure how they'd improve either of these lenses significantly to make purchase worth it. I got my 35L beginning of summer and I really cant imagine it getting much better unless you particularly hate vignetting...

Jettatore

My 24-70L isn't much more than a year old. I don't like the feeling of having bought something that soon and it being upgraded but my copy of the lens is really good so I don't know what much to complain about. I got a 16-35L II as well in my set and only some time after buying it, did I realize the original 16-35 f/2.8 was just as nice of a lens as the II version.

RayS2121

No IS on a new 24-70? Although, I wouldn't be surprised given they released 16-35 II well into the IS era in late 2000's without IS. But I figured that's a wide angle zoom, probably used more in landscapes and wider scopes, with likely more light, so sorta makes sense to skip IS, to keep price/weight down for the function it is supposed to serve.

But 24-70mm is a different beast that will find use in event photography, indoors, wedding, and low light situtations ... IS would be very handy...

But Canon could do what they did with 16-35 II again without batting an eye and release a non-IS version in 2012!.

No IS on a new 24-70? Although, I wouldn't be surprised given they released 16-35 II well into the IS era in late 2000's without IS. But I figured that's a wide angle zoom, probably used more in landscapes and wider scopes, with likely more light, so sorta makes sense to skip IS, to keep price/weight down for the function it is supposed to serve.

But 24-70mm is a different beast that will find use in event photography, indoors, wedding, and low light situtations ... IS would be very handy...

But Canon could do what they did with 16-35 II again without batting an eye and release a non-IS version in 2012!.

I will never understand Canon marketing I guess.

It's simple: we keep buying 'em! So long as we, the consumers, purchase the new versions with only incremental upgrades, they will continue that practice.

That depends. Do you need it now? You can't take a picture with a lens that might get announced next month and take 3-6 additional months (or more) to arrive.

Normally do we know how long it takes between lens announcement and availability? Are we suggesting these new lenses might not be available before June 2012? Does anyone has historical data that could hint at how long between announcement and "in store"?